A Final Toast
by Infinite-Endings
Summary: COMPLETE Reelaangst. The night before Neela’s wedding to Gallant, Ray offers his exroommate a final toast, because by morning, everything is going to change and he is going to let her go.


**Title: **A Final Toast  
**Author:** Infinite-Endings  
**Rating**: K+  
**Disclaimer:** Standard disclaimers applied. I own nothing.

**Summary:** The night before Neela's wedding to Gallant, Ray offers his ex-roommate a final toast, because by morning, everything is going to change and he is going to let her go. Inspired by some of the lyrics from the song, Here's To the Night by Eve 6.

* * *

**A FINAL TOAST**

_By: Infinite-Endings_

To this day, until the final hours before she fully pledges herself to be Mrs. Michael Gallant, he loved her. That was no question about it - he was in love with his roommate. But if he was asked whether or not he had regrets watching her get married tomorrow, he would deny everything. His love for her was unconditional. He would willingly sacrifice a part of himself, if it meant that she would be happy.

_So denied  
So I lied  
Are you the now-or-never kind?_

Tonight, she was out with the girls - Abby had called the apartment and insisted that she got a proper bachelorette party. It was a surprise and Neela couldn't say no. At the news, she turned to him with her smoky mocha eyes and asked tentatively, "Do you mind, Ray?"

"You don't need my permission to go to a bachelorette party in your honour," he interjected.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay tonight? It won't be too lonely by yourself?"

"No, of course not," he smiled in his reply. Her face lit up, reassured by his words, before she quickly made plans on the phone. When his back was turned, his expression changed.

_In a day  
And a day love  
I'm gonna be gone for good again_

An hour later, the door closed with a resonant bang. She had casually kissed him on the cheek on her way out. "Don't wait up for me, Ray and don't drink all the beer."

She was in jest, of course. Her last night as a 'free woman,' and she was in a mischievous mood. He carelessly shooed her out of the apartment. "Out woman, before I lose my nerve."

She didn't realize that the statement had a double meaning.

_All my time is froze in motion  
Can't I stay an hour or two or more  
Don't let me let you go_

He went to the fridge for the case of beer and proceeded with turning off all the lights, and crashed onto the couch. He absentmindedly channel surf with a remote in one hand and taking gulps of beer in the other. By the time that he hit the third or fourth beer, and listened to over two hours of informericals, he realized that he had yet to offer a proper toast.

With the ever-present buzz in his head, he carelessly raised the half-finished bottle in his hand. Waving it around like a baton, but making meaningless motions in the air, he blurted out, "Here's to Neela - the bestest and buiitiful of girlll-friends in the whole wide world."

_Wanna stay  
Not to go  
I wanna ditch the logical  
Here's a toast  
To all those who hear me all too well_

Then in his confused state, he still managed to counter himself, "No. No. Bad Ray. Not my girlll-friend. Mikey Gallant's girllfriend ..."

_Here's to goodbye_

"No. No. No. Wrong again. Mikey Gallant's wife."

Wife - it is a word signifying lifelong commitment and companionship, till death do you apart. He found himself to be caught with sudden wave of seriousness and thoughtfulness. He realized that eternity was a really long time.

He ran his fingertips along the pillows besides him and thought about the time Neela cuddled it and cried herself to sleep after treating an eight-year-old rape victim. But, he recalled how quickly she abandoned the said pillow and snuggled up in his chest and soaked his t-shirt with her tears.

This time, it was him holding on to the pillow, but Neela won't be there for him, not now and certainly not after tomorrow.

_Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry_

Just as quickly, he recalled the time, he was in a similar fashion - curled up on the couch with a pillow tucked underneath his arms. It had been a long shift, pulling a double because Pratt called in sick and Morris broke his foot. He had been exhausted and barely slipped out of his lab coat before collapsing right there in the living room.

He was rudely awaken by a smack on his head by a seemingly-heavy object. In his dazed state, he failed to dodge another knock to his face. "Neela!"

She was in one of those quirky moods. The power was out; they hadn't gone grocery shopping. Yet, she could not resist the urge to start a pillow fight on finding her roommate asleep and dead to the world. He retaliated by the time, she had the pleasure of hitting him again. Grabbing the blanket that was abandoned on the couch, he made a quick dash and sent them both crashing to the ground. He then proceeded with rendering her immobile by wrapping her body tight with the blanket and his body on top of hers.

"Surrender and admit defeat?" he said wryly to his 'victim.'

"I'll surrender to you, but to admit defeat - never."

_Here's to the nights we felt alive_

He remembered the times that he fought the urge to kiss her, but the sensation was more acutely felt when their lips were only inches apart. Downing the rest of his beer to rid himself of the image, he offered one last toast, "To Mikey Gallant, the luckiest man in the world."

He passed out after that, secured with the knowledge that he wasn't jealous or resentful because he loved Neela enough to let her go and watch her marry somebody else. All, he had to do was sleep off this hangover before the wedding.

_Tomorrow's gonna come too soon_

**Fin**

* * *

AN: This will be one-shot. No amount of a prodding will convince me otherwise. I think it has just the right amount of bittersweet-ness, angst, and romance for an ending. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please r/r. 


End file.
